Infant car seat

ABSTRACT

An infant car seat is adapted for being installed on a seat carrier. The infant car seat includes a seat shell, a latch, a release unit, and a resilient member. The seat shell is formed with a receiving space having an opening. The latch is disposed in the receiving space, and is adapted for engaging with a ledge of the seat carrier. The release unit includes an actuating member operable to drive the latch to move from a rest position, where a portion of the latch protrudes out of the opening for engaging with the ledge of the seat carrier, to a retracted position, where the latch is retracted into the receiving space. The resilient member is connected between the seat shell and the latch for biasing the latch toward the rest position.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/846,887, filed on May 13, 2019.

FIELD

The disclosure relates to an infant car seat, more particularly to aninfant car seat for installing on a seat carrier.

BACKGROUND

Infant car seats are used to transport infants. They are used in motorvehicles, on strollers and carrier by hand. A common feature of aconventional infant car seat is the ability to connect to a seatcarrier, e.g. a stroller. The conventional infant car seat is coupledwith a coupling structure on the stroller with a spring loaded plunger.

Because of the small size of the plunger, the coupling structure of thestroller for a conventional infant car seat has a horizontal wall toprevent vertical motion of the conventional infant car seat relative tothe stroller, and two vertical walls to prevent rotational motion of theconventional infant car seat relative to the stroller.

The plunger of the conventional infant car seat also only allowsinstallation of the conventional infant car seat onto the stroller inone orientation. As such, the conventional infant car seat would need tohave two plungers in order to be installable on the stroller in twoorientations.

SUMMARY

Therefore, the object of the disclosure is to provide an infant car seatthat has a novel carrier-connecting mechanism.

According to the disclosure, an infant car seat is adapted for beinginstalled on a seat carrier. The infant car seat includes a seat shell,a latch, a release unit, and a resilient member. The seat shell isformed with a receiving space having an opening. The latch is disposedin the receiving space, and adapted for engaging with a ledge of theseat carrier. The release unit includes an actuating member operable todrive the latch to move from a rest position, where a portion of thelatch protrudes out of the opening for engaging with the ledge of theseat carrier, to a retracted position, where the latch is retracted intothe receiving space. The resilient member is connected between the seatshell and the latch for biasing the latch toward the rest position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent inthe following detailed description of the embodiments with reference tothe accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a first embodiment of an infant car seataccording to the disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a latch, a release unit and a resilientmember of the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the first embodiment,illustrating the latch at a rest position;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 , illustrating the latch at aretracted position;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary schematic view of the latch and an actuatingmember of the release unit of a variation of the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary schematic view of the latch and the actuatingmember of another variation of the first embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary perspective view of the actuating member and aconnecting member of the release unit of a second embodiment of aninfant car seat according to the disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view of the second embodiment; and

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary schematic view of the latch and the release unitof a third embodiment of an infant car seat according to the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before the present invention is described in greater detail, it shouldbe noted that where considered appropriate, reference numerals orterminal portions of reference numerals have been repeated among thefigures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements, which mayoptionally have similar characteristics.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3 , a first embodiment of an infant car seataccording to the disclosure is adapted for being installed on a seatcarrier (not shown). The infant car seat includes a seat shell 11, ahandle 2, a latch 3, and a release unit 4. The seat shell 11 is formedwith a receiving space 110 that has an opening 12. Specifically, theseat shell 11 has a side wall 111 formed with the opening 12. The handle2 is pivotally connected to said seat shell 11.

The latch 3 is disposed in the receiving space 110 and includes anengaging end portion 31 having an outer surface 311 and a latchingsurface 312, a pivot end portion 32 pivoted to the seat shell 11, and aconnecting portion 33 interconnecting the engaging end portion 31 andthe pivot end portion 32. In this embodiment, the outer surface 311 andthe latching surface 312 of the engaging end portion 31 aresubstantially perpendicular to each other.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4 , the latch 3 is movable between a restposition (FIG. 3 ), where the engaging end portion 31 protrudes out ofthe opening 12 for engaging with a ledge (not shown) of the seatcarrier, and a retracted position (FIG. 4 ), where the latch 3 isretracted into the receiving space 110. The outer surface 311 of theengaging end portion 31 of the latch 3 is flush with an outer surface ofthe side wall 111 of the seat shell 11 when the latch 3 is at theretracted position. The latching surface 312 is adapted for couplingwith the ledge of the seat carrier when the latch 3 is at the restposition. The resilient member 5 is connected between the seat shell 11and the latch 3 for biasing the latch 3 toward the rest position.

In this embodiment, the latch 3 pivots relative to the seat shell 11when moving between the rest position and the retracted position, but inother embodiments, the pivot end portion 32 may be omitted and the latch3 may move linearly relative to the seat shell 11 between the restposition and the retracted position.

In this embodiment, the latching surface 312 of the engaging end portion31 is elongated along a front-rear direction. The latching surface 312of this disclosure has a larger surface relative to that of aconventional infant car seat, which allows the ledge of the seat carrierfor the infant car seat of the disclosure to have only one horizontalwall while still engaging stably with the latch 3 and limitingrotational movement of the infant car seat of the disclosure. The ledgeof the seat carrier for the infant car seat of the disclosure thereforehas a simplified structure when compared with the coupling structure ofthe stroller for the conventional infant car seat.

Referring back to FIG. 1 , in this embodiment, the opening 12 of thereceiving space 110, and thus the engaging end portion 31 of the latch3, is disposed substantially center of the seat shell 11 along thefront-rear direction, and has a structure symmetrical with respect to animaginary vertical plane (I) extending along a left-right directionwhich is perpendicular to the front-rear direction. This allows theinfant car seat to be installed on the seat carrier in two symmetricalorientations using the same latch 3.

Referring back to FIGS. 2 and 3 , the release unit 4 includes anactuating member 41, a connecting member 42 having an end connected tothe actuating member 41, and a release handle 43 connected to anotherend of the connecting member 42 opposite to the actuating member 41 andoperable to move the connecting member 42 in a driving direction (P).

The actuating member 41 is operable to drive the latch 3 to move fromthe rest position to the retracted position. In this embodiment, theactuating member 41 is connected between the latch 3 and the side wall111 of the seat shell 11, and is movable in the driving direction (P) todrive the latch 3 to move in a transverse direction (D) which isperpendicular to the driving direction (P) from the rest position to theretracted position.

One of the actuating member 41 and the latch 3 has a contact surface 400being in sliding contact with the other one of the actuating member 41and the latch 3 and being inclined relative to the driving direction(P). In this embodiment, the actuating member 41 is wedge-shaped and hasthe contact surface 400 which is in sliding contact with the connectingportion 33 of the latch 3, and a width of the actuating member 41 in thetransverse direction (D) decreases in the driving direction (P).

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6 , in certain variations of the firstembodiment, the connecting portion 33 of the latch 3 is formed with thecontact surface 400 and has a wedge-shaped cross-section, and a width ofthe connecting portion 33 of the latch 3 in the transverse direction (D)increases in the driving direction (P). In these variations, theactuating member 41 has a width in the transverse direction (D) that islarger at an end distal to the connecting portion 42 and that is smallerat an end proximal to the connecting portion 42. For example, theactuating member 41 may be wedge-shaped (see FIG. 6 ) (i.e., the widthof the actuating member 41 in the transverse direction (D) graduallydecreases in the driving direction (P)), or the actuating member 41 maybe formed with a protruding portion 413 that protrudes toward the latch3 from a portion of the actuating member 41 distal to the connectingmember 42 (see FIG. 5 ).

Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8 , a second embodiment of an infant car seataccording to the disclosure is similar to the first embodiment, butdiffers in the structure of the release unit 4. In the secondembodiment, the actuating member 41 has a main body 411 connectedrotatably between the latch 3 and the side wall 111 of the seat shell 11and being substantially circular, and an actuated portion 412 extendingradially from the main body 411. The connecting member 42 is connectedpivotally to actuated portion 412 of the actuating member 41 such thatmovement of the connecting member 42 in the driving direction (P) drivesthe actuating member 41 to rotate about an axis (A) extending in thetransverse direction (D). The contact surface 400 of the actuatingmember 41 extends helically about the axis (A) and is in sliding contactwith the latch 3 such that rotation of the actuating member 41 about theaxis (A) drives the latch 3 to move from the rest position to theretracted position.

Referring to FIG. 9 , a third embodiment of an infant car seat accordingto the disclosure is similar to the first embodiment, but differs in theposition and the structure of the release unit 4. In the thirdembodiment, the actuating member 41 is co-movably connected to the latch3 and is disposed at a side of the latch 3 opposite to the side wall111. The release unit 4 further includes an L-shaped rotating link 44rotatably mounted to the seat shell 11 and having opposite endsrespectively and pivotally connected to the actuating member 41 and theconnecting member 42. Movement of the connecting member 42 in thedriving direction (P) rotates the rotating link 44, thereby driving thelatch 3 to move, via the actuating member 41, in the transversedirection (D) from the rest position to the retracted position.

In the description above, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details have been set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the embodiments. It will be apparent, however, to oneskilled in the art, that one or more other embodiments may be practicedwithout some of these specific details. It should also be appreciatedthat reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “anembodiment,” an embodiment with an indication of an ordinal number andso forth means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristicmay be included in the practice of the disclosure. It should be furtherappreciated that in the description, various features are sometimesgrouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereoffor the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in theunderstanding of various inventive aspects, and that one or morefeatures or specific details from one embodiment may be practicedtogether with one or more features or specific details from anotherembodiment, where appropriate, in the practice of the disclosure.

While the disclosure has been described in connection with what areconsidered the exemplary embodiments, it is understood that thisdisclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intendedto cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope ofthe broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modificationsand equivalent arrangements.

What is claimed is:
 1. An infant car seat adapted for being installed ona seat carrier, said infant car seat comprising: a seat shell formedwith a receiving space, and including a wall that has an opening; alatch disposed in said receiving space, and adapted for engaging with aledge of the seat carrier; a release unit including an actuating membermovable in a driving direction relative to said latch to move said latchfrom a rest position, said actuating member being positioned betweensaid latch and said wall, wherein a portion of said latch protrudes outof said opening for engaging with the ledge of the seat carrier, to aretracted position, wherein said latch is retracted into said receivingspace, wherein movement of said actuating member in said drivingdirection drives said latch to move in a transverse direction angularlyoffset from the driving direction; and a resilient member that iscompressible via operation of said actuating member in a direction awayfrom said wall with said opening, and is connected between said seatshell and said latch, said resilient member being oriented to bias saidlatch toward said rest position via a biasing force in a direction ofsaid wall with said opening.
 2. The infant car seat as claimed in claim1, wherein: one of said actuating member and said latch has a contactsurface being in sliding contact with the other one of said actuatingmember and said latch and being inclined relative to the drivingdirection, transverse direction being perpendicular to the drivingdirection.
 3. The infant car seat as claimed in claim 2, wherein saidactuating member is wedge-shaped and has said contact surface, a widthof said actuating member in the transverse direction decreasing in thedriving direction.
 4. The infant car seat as claimed in claim 2, whereinsaid latch has a portion formed with said contact surface and having awedge-shaped cross-section, a width of said portion of said latch in thetransverse direction increasing in the driving direction.
 5. The infantcar seat as claimed in claim 1, wherein: said seat shell has a side wallformed with said opening; said actuating member is connected rotatablybetween said latch and said side wall; said release unit furtherincludes a connecting member that is connected pivotally to saidactuating member, and that is movable in a driving direction to drivesaid actuating member to rotate about an axis extending in a transversedirection which is perpendicular to the driving direction; and saidactuating member has a contact surface that extends helically about theaxis and that is in sliding contact with said latch such that rotationof said actuating member about the axis drives said latch to move fromthe rest position to the retracted position.
 6. The infant car seat asclaimed in claim 1, wherein: said seat shell has a side wall formed withsaid opening; said actuating member is co-movably connected to saidlatch and is disposed at a side of said latch opposite to said sidewall; said release unit further includes a connecting member, and arotating link that is rotatably mounted to said seat shell and that hasopposite ends respectively and pivotally connected to said actuatingmember and said connecting member; and said connecting member is movablein a driving direction to rotate said rotating link, thereby drivingsaid latch to move, via said actuating member, in a transverse directionwhich is perpendicular to the driving direction from the rest positionto the retracted position.
 7. The infant car seat as claimed in claim 1,wherein said release unit further includes: a connecting member that hasan end connected to said actuating member; and a release handle that isconnected to another end of said connecting member opposite to saidactuating member and that is operable to move said connecting member inthe driving direction.
 8. The infant car seat of claim 1, wherein saidopening of said receiving space is disposed substantially center of saidseat shell along a front-rear direction, and has a structure symmetricalwith respect to an imaginary vertical plane extending along a left-rightdirection which is perpendicular to the front-rear direction.
 9. Theinfant car seat as claimed in claim 1, wherein said latch has a latchingsurface that is adapted for coupling with the ledge of the seat carrierwhen said latch is at the rest position, and that is elongated along afront-rear direction.
 10. The infant car seat as claimed in claim 1,wherein: said latch includes an engaging end portion protruding out ofsaid opening when said latch is at the rest position, and having alatching surface that is adapted for coupling with the ledge of the seatcarrier when said latch is at the rest position, a pivot end portionpivoted to the seat shell, and a connecting portion interconnecting saidengaging end portion and said pivot end portion; said actuating memberis in sliding contact with said connecting portion of said latch; andsaid latch pivots relative to said seat shell when moving between therest position and the retracted position.
 11. An infant car seat adaptedfor being installed on a seat carrier, said infant car seat comprising:a seat shell formed with a receiving space and including a wall havingthat has an opening; a latch disposed in said receiving space, andadapted for engaging with a ledge of the seat carrier; a release unitincluding an actuating member that is movable in a driving directionrelative to said latch to move said latch from a rest position, whereina portion of said latch protrudes out of said opening for engaging withthe ledge of the seat carrier, to a retracted position, wherein saidlatch is retracted into said receiving space, wherein movement of saidactuating member in said driving direction drives said latch to move ina transverse direction angularly offset from the driving direction; anda resilient member connected between said seat shell and said latch forbiasing said latch toward the rest position, wherein said latchincludes: an engaging end portion protruding out of said opening whensaid latch is in the rest position, said engaging end portion having alatching surface that is adapted for coupling with said ledge of theseat carrier when said latch is at said rest position, a pivot endportion pivoted to said seat shell, and a connecting portion locatedbetween said engaging end portion and said pivot end portion, whereinsaid actuating member contacts said connecting portion of said latch ata position between said latch and said wall, and said latch pivotsrelative to said seat shell when moving between the rest position andthe retracted position.
 12. The infant car seat as claimed in claim 11,wherein said pivot end defines pivot location, said latch beingpivotable about said pivot location.
 13. The infant car seat as claimedin claim 11, wherein said pivot end is positioned relatively below saidengagement end.
 14. The infant car seat as claimed in claim 11, wherein:said seat shell has a side wall formed with said opening; said actuatingmember is connected between said latch and said side wall; and one ofsaid actuating member and said latch has a contact surface being insliding contact with the other one of said actuating member and saidlatch and being inclined relative to the driving direction, thetransverse direction being perpendicular to the driving direction. 15.The infant car seat as claimed in claim 14, wherein said latch has aportion formed with said contact surface and having a wedge-shapedcross-section, a width of said portion of said latch in the transversedirection increasing in the driving direction.
 16. The infant car seatas claimed in claim 11, wherein said release unit further includes: aconnecting member that has an end connected to said actuating member;and a release handle that is connected to another end of said connectingmember opposite to said actuating member and that is operable to movesaid connecting member in the driving direction.
 17. The infant car seatof claim 11, wherein said opening of said receiving space is disposedsubstantially center of said seat shell along a front-rear direction,and has a structure symmetrical with respect to an imaginary verticalplane extending along a left-right direction which is perpendicular tothe front-rear direction.
 18. The infant car seat as claimed in claim11, wherein said latch has a latching surface that is adapted forcoupling with the ledge of the seat carrier when said latch is at therest position, and that is elongated along a front-rear direction. 19.The infant car seat as claimed in claim 11, wherein said opening isincluded in a wall of said seat shell, and wherein said resilient memberis compressible via operation of said actuating member in a directionaway from said wall with said opening, and oriented to bias said latchtoward the rest position via a biasing force in a direction of said wallwith said opening.
 20. An infant car seat adapted for being installed ona seat carrier, said infant car seat comprising: a seat shell formedwith a receiving space that has an opening; a latch disposed in saidreceiving space, and adapted for engaging with a ledge of the seatcarrier, the latch comprising an engaging end portion and pivot endportion pivotably mounted to the seat shell; a release unit including anactuating member positioned between said seat shell and a portion of thesaid latch positioned between and connecting said pivot end portion andsaid engaging end portion, said actuating member being movable relativeto said latch to move from a rest position, wherein said engaging endportion of said latch protrudes out of said opening for engaging withthe ledge of the seat carrier, to a retracted position, wherein saidengaging end portion of said latch is retracted into said receivingspace; and a resilient member connected between said seat shell and saidlatch for biasing said latch toward the rest position.
 21. The infantcar seat as claimed in claim 20, wherein: said seat shell has a sidewall formed with said opening; said actuating member is movable in adriving direction; and one of said actuating member and said latch has acontact surface being in sliding contact with the other one of saidactuating member and said latch and being inclined relative to thedriving direction; and movement of said actuating member in the drivingdirection drives said latch to move in a transverse direction which isperpendicular to the driving direction from the rest position to theretracted position.
 22. The infant car seat as claimed in claim 21,wherein said actuating member is wedge-shaped and has said contactsurface, a width of said actuating member in the transverse directiondecreasing in the driving direction.
 23. The infant car seat as claimedin claim 21, wherein said latch has a portion formed with said contactsurface and having a wedge-shaped cross-section, a width of said portionof said latch in the transverse direction increasing in the drivingdirection.
 24. The infant car seat as claimed in claim 20, wherein: saidseat shell has a side wall formed with said opening; said actuatingmember is connected rotatably between said latch and said side wall;said release unit further includes a connecting member that is connectedpivotally to said actuating member, and that is movable in a drivingdirection to drive said actuating member to rotate about an axisextending in a transverse direction which is perpendicular to thedriving direction; and said actuating member has a contact surface thatextends helically about the axis and that is in sliding contact withsaid latch such that rotation of said actuating member about the axisdrives said latch to move from the rest position to the retractedposition.
 25. The infant car seat as claimed in claim 20, wherein saidrelease unit further includes: a connecting member that has an endconnected to said actuating member; and a release handle that isconnected to another end of said connecting member opposite to saidactuating member and that is operable to move said connecting member inthe driving direction.
 26. The infant car seat of claim 20, wherein saidopening of said receiving space is disposed substantially center of saidseat shell along a front-rear direction, and has a structure symmetricalwith respect to an imaginary vertical plane extending along a left-rightdirection which is perpendicular to the front-rear direction.
 27. Theinfant car seat as claimed in claim 20, wherein said latch has alatching surface that is adapted for coupling with the ledge of the seatcarrier when said latch is at the rest position, and that is elongatedalong a front-rear direction.
 28. The infant car seat as claimed inclaim 20, wherein: said latch includes a latching surface at saidengaging end portion that is adapted for coupling with the ledge of theseat carrier when said latch is at the rest position, and a connectingportion interconnecting said engaging end portion and said pivot endportion; said actuating member is in sliding contact with saidconnecting portion of said latch; and said latch pivots relative to saidseat shell when moving between the rest position and the retractedposition.